My fifth Thanksgiving in the U.S. was, as usual, potluck-style. The dinner featured 3 appetizer platters, 11 main-course items, 4 desserts, 4 types of adult beverages, and 3 non-alcoholic beverages.
The in-laws, my wife and I employed three different strategies to deal with all that food. The most popular was to put a little bit of everything on the plate, to balance the mix and sample the whole assortment of dishes. Another was to focus on the favorites and pile them on. Still another was to start with reasonable quantities of the basics, and then add the remaining dishes one by one until full.
No matter what the route, everyone enjoyed the dinner, the food, the drinks, and the company. And, the next day, everyone woke up with a stomach ache or discomfort, vowing to overcome the food shock to the system by going on a diet starting now.
Here are a few dos and don’ts this Thanksgiving has brought home — in the gut? — for my thinking about marketing:
- DO avoid binge marketing; DO enjoy the ride, but DO be prepared for the consequences. So, DO pace yourself and your marketing efforts. DO spread them out over time and space, for consistency and effect.
- DON’T load your marketing plate with too many initiatives. (My discomfort wasn’t so much from the quantity as from a strange mix of all those foods.)
- DO incorporate the best and most effective of your experimental or accidental marketing efforts into your overall program. (I now dream about the sweet potato pecan casserole.)
- DON’T throw away your marketing leftovers, DO find innovative uses for them. (I suspect we’ll be eating and drinking leftovers for a week.)
- Most importantly, DO give thanks. Not just over a holiday or two, every day. Give thanks early, give thanks often, to your clients, to your employees, to your business partners, to nature, to yourself.
